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| Features and Opinion Learn what experts think about the current trends in the health care industry and the steps already being taken towards health care reform. Interested in contributing to this page? Please contact us at editor@reformplans.com.
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Elizabeth Edwards Working With Obama Team On Health Care - Huffington Post |
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Jason Linkins, Huffington Post, June 23, 2008
Although Edwards has clearly stated she preferred Clinton's health care plan, she announced today that she is already working with Obama's team.
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Lowering Health Costs for the Self-Employed - U.S. News and World Report |
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Matt Bandyk, U.S. News and World Report, June 19, 2008
Bandyk examines the prospects, under an Obama or McCaine plan, for selling insurance across state lines.
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Can Electing Obama Get Us Real Health Reform - Huffington Post |
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Art Levine, Huffington Post, June 19, 2008
Levine is convinced Obama's plan is more likely to bring about real reform than McCain's, but here he describes some of the "real-world political obstacles" that have to be addressed for any such change to occur. He also describes the "Archimedes Movement " for health-care reform led by former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber.
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Eyes Bloodshot, Doctors Vent Their Discontent - The New York Times |
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Sanddep Jauhar, The New York Times, June 18, 2008
Jauhar explains why doctors are increasingly frustrated with the non-clinical aspects of medicine -- such as being told which prescriptions they can write or which tests they can order, by managed care overseers.
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How To Fix Healthcare Delivery - The American |
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Arnold Kling, The American, June 17, 2008
Kling asks "Imagine a system in which doctors answered to corporate management and corporate management answered to patients," and then proceeds to answer.
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AMA Releases Its "National Health Insurer Report Card" - HCPMR |
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Robert Laszewski, Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review, June 18, 2008
You have to wonder what they're thinking about over at AHP--the health insurance trade association that called for more transparency and accountability for the provider community a few days ago--now that the American Medical Association's (AMA) detailed report card on insurer claim processing performance is out.
And, it's a fascinating read.
How often do health plans pay at the contracted payment rate?
"On what percentage of records does the payer's allowed amount equal the contracted payment rate?" The AMA says:
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Electronic Health Records: A National Survey of Physicians - NEJM |
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Catherine M. DesRoches et al., New England Journal of Medicine, June 18, 2008
Based on a survey of 2758 physicians, these researchers found that most physicians using electronic medical records were satisfied with the systems and felt that they improved the quality of care. However, only a minority of doctors have implemented EMRs so far, and the early adopters may be different in key ways from later adopters. (Free full text)
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How Much Do We Spend on Nursing Homes - Health Beat |
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Maggie Maher, Health Beat, June 13, 2008
We know that as a nation, we invest well over $2 trillion each year in healthcare. But where exactly do our health care dollars go? Where are they well-spent and where are they wasted?
In recent months I’ve been trying to answer those questions by looking at healthcare spending sector by sector, analyzing how much we spend on physicians’ services (here and here); on hospitals (here and here) ; and what share our health care dollars is eaten up by insurers’ “administrative costs and overhead.”
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Obama, McCain, and Health Care Reform - Managed Care Matters |
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Joseph Paduda, Managed Care Matters, June 10, 2008
Now that the Democratic primary season is over (and boy don't we miss it!), it is time to focus on the presumptive nominees’ rather different approaches to health care reform. (If Hillary 'unsuspends' her campaign and Obama drives off a cliff between the time I write and you read this, don’t despair, the Democratic candidates’ plans are more similar than they are different.)
The differences between the McCain and Obama plans are big – really big. Philosophically, McCain’s approach is market-based and tax policy driven, relying on individuals to make the best decisions on health care procedures and treatment. His plan would remove the favorable treatment of employer-funded health insurance, instead providing a refundable tax credit of $2500/individual or $5000 per family to help them buy insurance (note – the average individual policy now costs over $4000 and the average family policy cost exceeds $12,000). Conversely, Obama’s plan is more pragmatic, focused on fixing the problems with the current market-based system with a ban on medical underwriting, a comprehensive ‘minimum’ benefit design, financial help for small employers buying health insurance, and some sort of stop-loss insurance for high dollar claims.
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What Consumers Want in Health Care - McKinsey |
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Jenny Cordina and Shubham Singhal, The McKinsey Quarterly, June 2008
In the quickly changing health care financing sector, decision-making power and financial responsibility increasingly fall to individuals instead of companies.1 But many consumers aren’t accustomed to shopping for health insurance, so they are not prepared for this additional responsibility. Feeling confused, concerned, and unprepared, they want personalized support to help them make and manage complex decisions—in particular, more relevant, understandable, and accessible options. This portrait emerges from a 2007 McKinsey survey, in which we questioned some 3,000 people—who have the option of choosing a health insurer—about their health care concerns, perceptions, and purchasing behavior.
Our results reveal substantial opportunities in the health care financing sector for many current and potential players, including incumbent payers, financial-services providers, technology “infomediaries,”2 and health care providers. Retail health consumers constitute a market worth hundreds of billions of dollars annually, where revenue growth and profit margins are 2.5 and 1.5 times higher, respectively, than those of the more traditional group-sponsored health insurance markets. Currently, 116 million consumers have a choice of health insurance (Exhibit 1), and that number is expected to reach 151 million by 2011. To win the business of these consumers, players in the health care financing sector will have to listen carefully to them and provide better support.
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Comparing Obama and McCain's Health Plans - HCPMR |
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Robert Laszewski, Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review, June 10, 2008
This election is different than any other on the issue of health care because both candidates are giving us serious blueprints to reorganize America's health care system and those blueprints are very very different.
As voters, you have a huge and critically important choice on health care.
There are dozens of details upon which they differ and for those I would point you to my comprehensive posts on the McCain Health Care Plan
and the Obama Health Care Plan .
But to understand their big idea differences, I would point you to our pension system to better understand where McCain and Obama are going on health care.
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Featured Podcast
Current State and Prospects for Consumer Directed Health Care Kim D. Slocum, President of KDS Consulting speaks with Malorye Allison, editor-in-chief of ReformPlans.com.
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